War Crimes

While the international outcry has been significant, history suggests this is less because of what happened and more because of whom it happened to. The U.S. has repeatedly attacked civilian facilities in the past but the targets have generally not been affiliated with a European, Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian organization such as MSF.

Below is a sampling of such incidents since the 1991 Gulf War.

  The Intercept

You can read the list here, which includes an air raid shelter, Red Cross complex and an infant formula factory.

But, but, but Russia!

Russian airstrikes in Syria have hit three medical facilities in two days, constituting a war crime, humanitarian nonprofit group Physicians for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

The New York–based group said Russian airstrikes, which began in Syria last week, are “exacerbating an already dire situation” for civilians living in areas where health care facilities have been targeted by the government forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the past several years. Russia’s defense ministry maintains the airstrikes are supporting the Syrian government by targeting the militant group ISIS, yet all three medical facilities struck by Russian planes are located more than 30 miles away from the nearest ISIS-controlled territory, said Physicians for Human Rights.

  Newsweek

PHR press release

In case you're wondering, PHR did condemn the Kunduz hospital bombing:

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today condemned an aerial attack on a Doctors without Borders (MSF) clinic in Kunduz, Afghanistan that reportedly killed at least 16 people, including nine MSF staff and seven patients.

"This is truly horrific and inexcusable," said Susannah Sirkin, director of international policy and partnerships at PHR. "'Collateral damage' is not an acceptable excuse for what by all accounts seems to be a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Targeting a hospital is a war crime and warring parties are obligated to take every measure possible to avoid attacking health facilities."

  Physicians for Human Rights